Phelim Otoole's Courtship and Other Stories: Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of; William Carleton, Volume ThreeCarleton, William
General
Phelim Otoole's Courtship and Other Stories: Traits And Stories Of The Irish Peasantry, The Works of; William Carleton, Volume Three
Carleton, William
Ireland -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
He had now reached the verge of the graveyard. Its fine old ruin stood
there as usual, but not altogether without the symptoms of change. Some
persons had, for the purposes of building, thrown down one of its
most picturesque walls. Still its ruins clothed with ivy, its mullions
moss-covered, its gothic arches and tracery, gray with age, were the
same in appearance as he had ever seen them.
On entering this silent palace of Death, he reverently uncovered his
head, blessed himself, and, with feelings deeply agitated, sought the
grave of his beloved child. He approached it; but a sudden transition
from sorrow to indignation took place in his mind, even before he
reached the spot on which she lay. “Sacred Mother!” he exclaimed, “who
has dared to bury in our ground? Who has--what villain has attimpted to
come in upon the M'Carthys--upon the M'Carthy Mores, of Tubber Derg? Who
could--had I no friend to prev--eh? Sacred Mother, what's this? Father
of heaven forgive me! Forgive me, sweet Saviour, for this bad feelin'
I got into! Who--who--could raise a head-stone over the darlin' o' my
heart, widout one of us knowin' it! Who--who could do it? But let me see
if I can make it out. Oh, who could do this blessed thing, for the poor
an' the sorrowful?” He began, and with difficulty read as follows:--
“Here lies the body of Alice M'Carthy, the beloved daughter of Owen and
Kathleen M'Carthy, aged nine years. She was descended from the M'Carthy
Mores.
“Requiescat in pace.
“This head-stone was raised over her by widow Murray, and her son, James
Murray, out of grateful respect for Owen and Kathleen M'Carthy, who
never suffered the widow and orphan, or a distressed neighbor, to crave
assistance from them in vain, until it pleased God to visit them with
affliction.”
“Thanks to you, my Saviour!” said Owen, dropping on his knees over the
grave,--“thanks an' praise be to your holy name, that in the middle of
my poverty--of all my poverty--I was not forgotten! nor my darlin' child
let to lie widout honor in the grave of her family! Make me worthy,
blessed Heaven, of what is written down upon me here! An' if the
departed spirit of her that honored the dust of my buried daughter is
unhappy, oh, let her be relieved, an' let this act be remimbered to her!
Bless her son, too, gracious Father, an' all belonging to her on this
earth! an', if it be your holy will, let them never know distress, or
poverty, or wickedness?”
He then offered up a Pater Noster for the repose of his child's soul,
and another for the kind-hearted and grateful widow Murray, after which
he stood to examine the grave with greater accuracy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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